Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a solar cell assembly and a method of bonding a solar cell component to a support in order to manufacture a solar cell panel or array.
Description of the Related Art
Flexible solar panels and prototypes of such flexible solar panels have previously been made using supports consisting of either an open mesh or weave, such as Gore™ mesh, a woven fibreglass blanket, or a polymer film, such as Kapton™ polyimide film, Teflon™ films, PET or PEN films. Such supports can have certain drawbacks. For example, in some cases, they can be easily cut or punctured during handing or they may not provide adequate backside radiation protection for the solar cells. In some instances, they may be incompatible with high temperature processes, such as soldering. Further, if they are bent, creased, folded or bumped during handling, the material may retain a permanent deformation. Other problems may arise because the surface of the material is either porous (mesh/weave) or may not be very smooth on a microscopic scale (polyimide). In addition, some support materials may be susceptible to degradation from atomic oxygen (e.g., polyimide).
As an example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,298,085 discloses a support blanket for solar cell arrays which uses a fibreglass support. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,755,231 discloses a flexible solar array cell which uses a coated Kapton support. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 8,107,777 discloses a polyimide support bonded to other support.
In view of the state of the art, a more advantageous solar cell assembly is desirable. The present disclosure describes a more advantageous solar cell assembly and method of making such a solar cell assembly.